Job Search Venting Thread

[tobee43]

I am amazed how much money I see people spend when a sale is advertised. Also how much I see people spending at expensive stores (my gf and I walk through the mall and watch people plunk down thousands on crap). I live as lean as a human being can live, actually lived this way for many years. I kept hearing that I need to earn my degree so I can get better jobs and earn more money, but all I see is the same jobs with the same companies with the same life expectancy rate (just a few months to six months). The degree at least allows me to submit my resume to most companies, so at least I get past the resume blockade! But this is really pathetic. The best I can do is making the same I made 10 years ago, which is just getting by, so when I get terminated again, I go right back to running out of any money I was able to scrimp away. That is if I can even find a job first. I know the degree will pay off eventually, but this is truly depressing!!!

i do believe there will always be a sector of the population where there are always some that are never touched by what is going on with the economy. or, even the world for that matter. their jobs are not effected or their business owners that simply are unaffected by much. of course, we'll never feel or experience that in our life time...but it's there and those are the one's out there spending and buying........or they are racking up their cc's before they file bk!!!

[helpme2010]

I am amazed how much money I see people spend when a sale is advertised. Also how much I see people spending at expensive stores (my gf and I walk through the mall and watch people plunk down thousands on crap). I live as lean as a human being can live, actually lived this way for many years. I kept hearing that I need to earn my degree so I can get better jobs and earn more money, but all I see is the same jobs with the same companies with the same life expectancy rate (just a few months to six months). The degree at least allows me to submit my resume to most companies, so at least I get past the resume blockade! But this is really pathetic. The best I can do is making the same I made 10 years ago, which is just getting by, so when I get terminated again, I go right back to running out of any money I was able to scrimp away. That is if I can even find a job first. I know the degree will pay off eventually, but this is truly depressing!!!

[BKOnce]

Every Black Friday... we always hear people's stampede at Walmart... rush in for BIG SALE% !!

Spending will never be stopped.. only GOING ON..& ON... more etc.

[tobee43]

i think the entire county has to lower their standards....

all you hear on the news is people have to start saving and SPEND...but DO NOT spend....and saving accounts are up?? (i guess someone has SOME money to save). i know it took us two years and finally we are just being to save a tiny bit).

[helpme2010]

I agree tobee. I am lowering my standards more and more each week. Flipping burgers is beginning to look good right now. ahahahah

[tobee43]

Helpme2010
I watch Survivor Man and Man Vs. Wild, so I am thinking, maybe I can learn to live in the forest and eat animals and berries. This should help me take a lower paying job and still sock away a little money... hummm, giving it some serious thought!!

LOL!! ok...i'm really not laughing...and i know these are really hard times. but, something will come up!! i know it will take some time, but it will........and it's terrible to have to just "settle" and not be happy at what you do everyday. i know, it's like a catch 22.

[helpme2010]

i also think it may depend on your field...remember i mentioned my daughter JUST got a job...but she's in the admin. part of health care....and they need people...but her field is something that they require just like you said those postings were ...10 year of this...and 5 years experience of that....it's bad news!

tobee, I have been facing another fear in looking and that is I am likely going to end up taking another unstable job with a smaller company, just like I have for the past 10 years. The pay will be enough to just scrape by, the job I'm guessing will probably last 3-6 months, then I am right back to looking again and living off of unemployment insurance. So this makes it really difficult to build up a nestegg to help pay the bills while I am out of work again.

I am trying like crazy to find something with a more stable company and can pay enough to get by plus a little extra that I can put in the savings account for those rainy days I know are coming.

I watch Survivor Man and Man Vs. Wild, so I am thinking, maybe I can learn to live in the forest and eat animals and berries. This should help me take a lower paying job and still sock away a little money... hummm, giving it some serious thought!!!

[tobee43]

RichM, you are totally right. It has been this way for many years. Unless you are one of those high-end programmers with a certain programming language that is in huge demand, you are pretty much at the mercy of the employer. I phone interviewed with one the other day in the entertainment industry, a huge company that is making bank, and they decided to just pay less than the people are worth, even though they are making record profit, they decided to be cheap with their employees, who have very little bargaining power.

I think of job searching as a giant funnel, you keep pouring it in and very little comes out, but keep pouring more and more will come out.

i also think it may depend on your field...remember i mentioned my daughter JUST got a job...but she's in the admin. part of health care....and they need people...but her field is something that they require just like you said those postings were ...10 year of this...and 5 years experience of that....it's bad news!

[helpme2010]

It's an employer's market right now, unfortunately. Hang in there!

-Rich

RichM, you are totally right. It has been this way for many years. Unless you are one of those high-end programmers with a certain programming language that is in huge demand, you are pretty much at the mercy of the employer. I phone interviewed with one the other day in the entertainment industry, a huge company that is making bank, and they decided to just pay less than the people are worth, even though they are making record profit, they decided to be cheap with their employees, who have very little bargaining power.

I think of job searching as a giant funnel, you keep pouring it in and very little comes out, but keep pouring more and more will come out.

[RichM]

It's an employer's market right now, unfortunately. Hang in there!

-Rich

[helpme2010]

Exactly - what are you going to say that is different from your resume????? It's not like they don't ask the same questions that you have answered on your resume. Drives me crazy! And I feel like I'm putting word for word from the resume onto their questionaire. I just don't get it. Either they should take the resume or do the online, in which you can just cut and paste from your resume, which is what I normally do anyway. Why do they need both????

Agreed. They do extract some of the info from the resume, but this becomes formatted improperly in the wrong fields, and I still have to go in and add a ton of information. This is like when you have to go into the interview and they make you fill out a job application which again asks you to fill in all the crap that is already on your resume. And then they turn around and ask you again to go over your job history. I write like a doctor, so that is what I tell them when my writing is sloppy.

The last thing is references which I won't give out until the very end as the final means of hiring me as I don't want to burn out references getting bothered repeatedly by recruiters.

[discouraged]

Exactly - what are you going to say that is different from your resume????? It's not like they don't ask the same questions that you have answered on your resume. Drives me crazy! And I feel like I'm putting word for word from the resume onto their questionaire. I just don't get it. Either they should take the resume or do the online, in which you can just cut and paste from your resume, which is what I normally do anyway. Why do they need both????

[helpme2010]

My latest vent, I spent probably 4 hours total filling out the online job application for a major corporation for a job position. It took me 2 days (as I had to come back a couple times for more information and still apply to other jobs).

After the 4 hours of filling out endless pages of info about me, 10 minutes later I get a response saying I do not qualify.

TIME TO VENT - I CAN'T STAND JOB SITES THAT ASK YOU TO FILL OUT PAGES OF CRAP WHEN THEY COULD JUST TAKE YOUR RESUME AND COVER LETTER INSTEAD!!!

[tobee43]

tobee, I read that article and haven't had a chance to respond to it yet. It makes me think how difficult this interview cycle is. I am finding it nearly impossible to just get a company to call me back about my resume. Once I get to that level, I then have to go through a phone interview, then a couple live interviews. Assuming that is a one out of 10 chance when I finally get to this level, we then factor in the BK and hope we can still get past this. But realistically, this cycle starts over each time we interview, so the odds are kind of like playing the lottery.

I know we will get there, but it is stressful and depressing to say the least.

Again I ask myself, why did I try so hard in college, why did I graduate with honors and go after the more difficult degree in my field of work. Why not just screw around and barely get by? This seems to work for most of society.

helpme, we can never give up....it will get better...i know it. it's just going to be a bit of an uphill battle, but you'll get there.

you were right to go to college and work hard and to graduate with honors!! that's awesome and something that absolutely no one can ever take away from you....

they can take your house
they can take your car
they can take your furniture
they can take even your clothes....

but they can't ever take your education from you...ever...NOW chin up.....and you will find a job!! it will happen...don't know exactly when, but it will!!

[helpme2010]

i just read the sadness article done by cnn...about being jobless and hopeless in america....what an absolute shame....it surveyed unemployed people, followed them for a few years...i mean it was not a huge study, but to me an indicator of what's going on through out the country.

by the sounds of THAT research it does not sound that great for our futures...at least not for people my age....

tobee, I read that article and haven't had a chance to respond to it yet. It makes me think how difficult this interview cycle is. I am finding it nearly impossible to just get a company to call me back about my resume. Once I get to that level, I then have to go through a phone interview, then a couple live interviews. Assuming that is a one out of 10 chance when I finally get to this level, we then factor in the BK and hope we can still get past this. But realistically, this cycle starts over each time we interview, so the odds are kind of like playing the lottery.

I know we will get there, but it is stressful and depressing to say the least.

Again I ask myself, why did I try so hard in college, why did I graduate with honors and go after the more difficult degree in my field of work. Why not just screw around and barely get by? This seems to work for most of society.